Embed

HTML:BBCode:

description

Object description

image: Looking down the Arras-Bapaume road which undulates to the horizon. Flat, featureless fields lie on either side of
the road, which is bordered in places by felled trees. To the upper right is an encampment of eight tents. Figures and vehicles can be seen
in transit on the left and right of the road. The clouded, grey sky and wet road surface indicates recent heavy rainfall.

Label

Nevinson repainted the traffic after it was pointed out that he had originally placed it on the wrong side of the
road.

Label

The endless road from Arras to Bapaume undulates towards the horizon. The use of strong perspective enhances the
emptiness and desolation of the scene: flat, featureless fields, broken trees and grey sky. The viewer joins the quiet passage of military
vehicles in the aftermath of a bombardment. The official censors requested that Nevinson repaint the traffic after he originally painted
the vehicles on the wrong side of the road.

History note

Imperial War Museum purchase under terms of Nevinson's commission with the Ministry of
Information

Related objects

Related content

The Christmas Truce has become one of the most famous and mythologised events of the First World War. But what was the real story behind the truce? Why did it happen and did British and German soldiers really play football in no-man's land?

During the First World War, letter writing was the main form of communication between soldiers and their loved ones, helping to ease the pain of separation.
The British Army Postal Service delivered around 2 billion letters during the war. In 1917 alone, over 19,000 mailbags crossed the English Channel each day, transporting letters and parcels to British troops on the Western Front.